After numerous delays, Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl has finally been released – something the devs called “utterly surreal” in a statement posted on launch day. Now, the game isn’t without its problems (or “rough edges” as described by the development team). In any case, it seems like many long-time fans are happy to stick by the game despite poor performance and bugs.
It’s safe to say that Stalker 2 is a demanding game; features such as upscaling and frame generation are recommended for a smooth experience. And now, new CPU benchmarks posted online demonstrate why your processor can make a difference, especially at lower resolutions; CapFrameX called the game “a CPU killer.”
AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is a step above the rest without overclock
German site PC Games Hardware (PCGH) recently shared some CPU benchmarks for the game and they demonstrate how your CPU could be a bottleneck for Stalker 2. Testing within Zalissya village, notably one of the most demanding areas of the game known so far, these results can be regarded as a worst-case scenario.
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With DDR5-5600 RAM, the Ryzen 7 9800X3D is on top with an average of 98.2 FPS, though the 1% lows drop this down to just 44 – surprisingly so, considering this CPU mitigated stuttering in many other titles when we reviewed the 9800X3D. Originally excluded from the results, the Intel Core i9-14900K does average 99.4 FPS, though it has been overclocked and benefits from faster DDR5-7200 RAM which will no doubt skew results.
Using a system with an RTX 4090 graphics card, these benchmarks are run on max settings, with 90 FOV, and according to one of PCGH’s video benchmarks, 720p resolution (1280 x 720).
So, when looking at comparable tests such as the Ryzen 7 9800X3D versus the Core Ultra 9 285K both paired with DDR5-5600, we can see a generous uplift for the Ryzen chip. Plus, now that 9800X3D also has the ‘overclocking factor,’ it should remain well on top – there’s a reason why it’s the best CPU for gaming right now.
Even ahead of its launch on November 7th, AMD boasted that the 9800X3D is 20% faster for gaming than Intel’s current flagship 285K processor, and these tests suggest a 17% difference in Stalker 2 when comparing average FPS. However, 1% and 0.2% lows are relatively similar across the board, so the game can be choppy regardless of your processor.
Outside of the 9800X3D, the list does look fairly Intel-dominated, which may be surprising. This could suggest the game makes better use of multi-threaded CPUs. AMD’s last-gen 7800X3D, which also makes use of 3D V-Cache technology, averages 78.4 FPS, falling just behind the 265K; it is worth noting that the 7800X3D test uses slightly slower DDR5-5200 RAM, which is a small anomaly.
If you want to see more hardware tests, recent benchmarks tell us that Stalker 2 proves to be a pain to run on Intel Arc GPUs. Optimizing the game is going to be a priority if you want to experience it as smoothly as possible. As we said before, upscaling and frame gen seem to be the key here, especially considering even Nvidia’s benchmarks practically recommend it for even their high-end GPUs. We’ve also put together a best settings for Stalker 2 guide which can help you improve performance.
- Cores: 8
- Threads: 16
- Boost clock speed: 5.2GHz
- Base clock speed: 4.7GHz
- L3 cache: 96MB
- TDP: 120W
- Platform: AM5
